Coffee varieties

One of the oldest and most widely disseminated arabica varieties, historically the source from which many other cultivated varieties descend or mutated. Generally lower-yielding than more modern varieties, with a reputation among growers for cup quality.

A long-established arabica variety, historically grown on Bourbon Island (Réunion) after introduction from Yemen. Several other varieties, including Caturra, Pacas and Villa Sarchi, are natural mutations of Bourbon.

A naturally occurring dwarf mutation of Bourbon, first identified in Brazil. Its compact growth habit and higher yield made it popular across Central and South America from the mid-20th century onward.

A hybrid of Caturra and Mundo Novo developed in Brazil, combining Caturra's compact size with Mundo Novo's vigour. Widely grown across Central America and Brazil.

A variety originating from the Gesha area of Ethiopia, brought to prominence in the speciality coffee market after standout results from farms in Panama in the 2000s. Often associated with pronounced floral and tea-like character, though results vary considerably by farm and processing.

A variety selected in Kenya in the 1930s by Scott Agricultural Laboratories, bred for drought tolerance and cup quality. Closely associated with Kenyan coffee and often cited for pronounced acidity and complexity.

A variety selected alongside SL28 in Kenya by Scott Agricultural Laboratories, widely grown alongside it in Kenyan coffee-growing areas and generally better suited to higher-rainfall conditions.

A hybrid of Pacas and Maragogipe developed in El Salvador, known for unusually large beans and, in well-grown lots, notable cup complexity. Lower-yielding than many commercial varieties.

A naturally occurring mutation of Typica first identified in Brazil, notable for unusually large beans and plants. Generally lower-yielding and less widely grown commercially than its size might suggest.

Not one variety but a group of many, all descended from crosses of the rust-resistant Timor Hybrid with the compact Caturra. They share a parentage and little else: the catalogue rates their quality potential anywhere from very low to good, and several have lost the rust resistance they were bred for.

A rust-resistant variety developed by Colombia's national coffee research centre (Cenicafé), derived from Caturra and Hybrido de Timor breeding lines, and widely promoted to Colombian growers to replace more disease-susceptible varieties.

A naturally occurring hybrid of Typica and Bourbon first identified in Brazil, valued for vigour and productivity. A parent variety of Catuaí.

A naturally occurring dwarf mutation of Bourbon identified in El Salvador, agronomically similar in purpose to Caturra. A parent variety of Pacamara.

A naturally occurring dwarf mutation of Bourbon identified in Costa Rica, grown particularly in the country's western valley and Tarrazú growing regions.

Not a single variety but the term commonly used for Ethiopia's vast number of local, uncatalogued arabica landraces — a genuine reflection of Ethiopia's status as arabica's centre of origin and greatest genetic diversity, rather than a gap in CoffeeHQ's data. Unlike SL28, Castillo or the various Bourbon-descended varieties covered elsewhere in this catalogue, most Ethiopian farms grow a mix of local landrace populations that have not been individually classified, selected or named in the way varieties are elsewhere — "heirloom" or "landrace" is the honest description many sources use, not a specific cultivar. Gesha (covered separately) is one specific, now-famous landrace population that was collected, exported and later named; most Ethiopian heirloom material has not had that same individual attention.

A natural cross between an arabica and a robusta plant, discovered on the island of Timor in 1927. It carried robusta's resistance to leaf rust into a plant that could breed with arabica, and almost every rust-resistant arabica released since descends from it.

A group of varieties descended from one cross: the Timor Hybrid with Villa Sarchi, a compact Costa Rican mutation of Bourbon. Marsellesa, Parainema, Obatá and IAPAR 59 are Sarchimors, and one unstable Sarchimor line is a parent of several modern F1 hybrids.

Robusta is a species, not a variety. Its cultivated forms come from different wild gene pools and from national breeding programmes in Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Uganda, West Africa and Brazil that each selected for something different.

Arabica varieties made by crossing two genetically distant parents and planting the first-generation offspring. They tend to yield more than conventional varieties, and they cannot be grown from saved seed, which is why they are propagated in laboratories or by hand pollination.

A compact Kenyan variety released in 1985 in answer to coffee berry disease. It is a composite: hand-pollinated first-generation seed from a Catimor mother and a complex male parent, sold as a mix of siblings.

A tall Kenyan variety released in 2010, selected from the male parent lines of Ruiru 11. It keeps resistance to coffee berry disease on a tall tree suited to smallholders, and the catalogue rates its quality potential above Ruiru 11's.

A tall variety long assumed to be a Typica selection, which genetic fingerprinting has shown to come from an Ethiopian landrace. It travelled from Ethiopia to Java, then to Cameroon, then to Central America, and was first officially recognised there by Panama in 2016.